New Directions

These new directions arose from Chuck’s transition from serving as Director of East West Educational Foundation and from consultations in Jaipur August 25th- 30th with our U.S. leadership during our one-year review.

Essentially the main emphases are:
1. Prioritize language learning in this next year.
2. Live and work more where the Kingdom is not rather than where it already is.
3. Improve our financial support.
4. Work on communication as a couple.
5. Use art and creativity as a means to holistically engage the culture.

Language Learning
We had the privilege of attending classes at East West Language Institute during Chuck’s year of service with EWEF, however partly due to repeated illnesses and absences we gained grammatical knowledge but we have some gaps, especially in conversation. So, we are currently taking these steps to prioritize this area:
1. A proposed home-stay has been confirmed. We will arrive in Mussoorie October 1 just in time to celebrate Eid with our host family. We expect to stay at least one week - more may be a possibility.
2. We anticipate participating in an Onsite Language Service (OSLS) camp either in October or November. Essentially, OSLS teaches learners how to train their language tutors to teach them and provides resources for this task.
3. We expect a reciprocal home-stay with the Mussoorie family staying with us in Delhi during their January holiday from school and their business.

Live & Work Where The Kingdom Isn’t
Due to the nature of Chuck’s work at EWEF, most of his time was with those in the Kingdom (estimated 80/20%). Basically the goal is to reverse this emphasis, especially seeking opportunities to naturally build relationships with Muslims.

Improve Financial Support
We have endeavored to live simply; roughly equivalent to a middle class Indian family. However, these factors have brought this issue to the forefront of our leadership’s concern for us:
1. An initial starting level that was a little low.
2. The effects of inflation.
3. Unexpectedly high transportation expenses during the first year due to the shift of the office from near our residence to another part of Delhi, added travel costs in the second year due to the change in visa status requiring trips out of country every 180 days.
4. The beginning of expenses for developing and piloting our creativity and art activities.
5. The need for replacement of a computer (India’s 240 volt, direct current, highly variable electrical supply is very hard on computers - our laptop has crashed several times and is in danger of permanently crashing).

Improve Communication As A Couple
Living and working cross-culturally can put strains on marriage relationships. Even though we have been married 37 years, there are some areas of need in this because we think and process so differently. Furthermore, due to these new directions, we are spending much more time together in a day than ever before, and almost all of our efforts are now focused on together developing and revising our strategies.

This past month we have started our day by sharing from our “quiet times” and strategizing the day ahead.

Holistically Engaging The Culture Through Art & Creativity
This is where the “zing” is in these new directions! Not so surprisingly for Janis, but surprisingly for Chuck, we have discovered a convergence of our interests and directions for life in this realm.

We will be developing a strategy for advancing the Kingdom based on this foundational premise:

Human beings are made to create

We're envisioning three strategies:
1. Consulting on creativity in life and work (focus: NGOs, companies, and individuals);
2. Equipping artists teach art, and aspiring artists to acquire experience and skills from practicing artists (focus: current artists and individuals interested in developing art skills);
3. Restoring health, dignity, and self-worth through art and creative activities; where these activities become the basis for prevention of marginalization and traumatization by providing options for those who are in apparently forced-choice situations (focus: the marginalized, traumatized or most vulnerable to marginalization and traumatization).

This next year we will develop, pilot and refine these strategies. We anticipate returning to the US during the summer of 2009 to visit family and friends, finalize a business plan, and then return to India on a business visa where we will seek to implement the strategy in such a way that we will catalyze a rapidly expanding number of nationals using these strategies in their natural networks of relationships.